


In good hands

by harisaru



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, POV Harry, Remus is so done, Sirius Black Lives, Sirius depression is implied, i'm sorry Kingsley ily, shameless fluff in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 21:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11388771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harisaru/pseuds/harisaru
Summary: Sirius lives, Remus was /this/ close to have an heart attack and is surprisingly vocal about it, Harry has a clue for once and finds out he might not have to worry because love will save the day.





	In good hands

 

There was a flash of red light, and then everything stopped.

When Harry saw Sirius's body touching the floor, landing just a few inches close to the veil, a scream full of pain and rage died in his throat. He stopped running in his direction, not daring to breathe or look elsewhere for what seemed like an eternity, feeling shivers running down his spine for what almost happened. After a few horrifying moments, he realized that Sirius was laying unconscious, but he was still breathing.

 _She almost killed him_.

He realised that, and the reason why the veil in the arch spoke to him before with voices and why it was so sinister, and the rage came back ferociously. Bellatrix was laughing something about killing Sirius, but she didn't saw what Harry did.

Ignoring that someone was shouting his name and begging him to not move -Harry vaguely registered Lupin's voice- he charged towards her, chasing Bellatrix out of the Department of Mysteries when she ran away.

 

*

 

When Sirius finally appeared in the hall, Dumbledore was busy shielding Harry from the Prime Minister and the Aurors, the fight already over as quickly as it started.

Sirius looked as pale and weak as Harry felt and was clenching the fabric of his shirt to hide an impressive gash on his chest; his long jacket had been ripped in more than one point and the shirt had been basically destroyed and was strained with so much blood it was a miracle he hadn't fainted yet. Harry felt a stab of guilt about leaving him helpless on the ground just a few minutes before, since the Death Eaters evidently took advantage of Bellatrix doing.

Still, it looked like Sirius had enough energy in his body left, because he freed himself from the gates of the elevators as soon as he saw him, ran towards them and hugged him so tight that Harry thought he might succeed in what Voldemort had tried so hard and kill him after all.

They only vaguely registered that Dumbledore was excusing himself and walking away with Fudge, leaving them alone.

“Oh, Harry, I thought... but you're fine now... you're fine, you really shouldn't have gone after her”, Sirius was trying to say, once he found his voice again, but he couldn't help faltering every two or three words, sounding relived but exhausted.

Harry didn't bother to object that and give the man the exact same speech, because of the sudden realization of where they were. “Sirius!” he exclaimed, breaking the embrace and glancing around them with eyes full of panic, even tough the Aurors around still seemed far too busy to pay attention to them.

He was ready to protect Sirius with his life, and frantically searched for his wand, but Sirius stopped him, gently taking his arms to still him.

“They won't bother us”, he explained, with a forced grin -he had to be in so much pain- and a nonchalant hand gesture. “Kingsley said I can stay, but to be fair I threatened to kill him if he dared to keep me away this time, to the hell with taking things slowly... so he made them release me. He has some... explaining to do, right now, and a punch in the face, maybe”. He didn't look very embarrassed as he said that, he was almost pleased.

“But this means... that you're free now..?”, Harry murmured when the consequences of Voldemort's return finally hit, his head suddenly light, staring Sirius with eyes wide open, as he felt his heart exploding and his ears pounding. He never thought he could feel so much joy again after the events of that night.

Sirius didn't answer, but the excited smile that appeared on his lips and the gleam in his eyes told Harry everything he needed to know. He fought his urge to hug his godfather back again, because Sirius's wound looked awful now he was looking at it, and he, unlike Sirius, was painfully aware of all the people surrounding them and probably watching their interactions suspiciously, Kingsley or not.

He really just didn't have the time to express his happiness in any other way but smiling back, because in that moment someone rushed towards them; when he stopped they separated abruptly, as the pure manifestation of rage stepped between them in the form of Remus Lupin. Harry saw Sirius barely managing to open his mouth, the grin still on his face, when Lupin punched him on the shoulder with impressive force -and more passion than Harry ever expected from him-.

“What on earth were you thinking?!”, he all but shouted, sounding like he was straying himself from punching Sirius again, who now stared at him in utter indignation and disbelief and what Harry suspected was a tested-before façade of pure innocence.

“Hey! Perhaps you noticed I'm already very much in pain here, thank you!”, Sirius protested, holding his shoulder, and, Harry could have sworn, pouting.

Lupin snorted and rolled his eyes, glancing around them and grabbing Sirius by the elbow, gesturing Harry to follow them somewhere they could talk more privately. They stopped near some of the Ministry statue's debris, large enough to hide the three of them from curious eyes.

Sirius then freed his elbow with a scowl, putting some distance between himself and Lupin and settling, arms crossed, beside Harry -one step behind, Harry noticed, just like he was actually scared of Lupin and was trying to use him like a shield.

“Harry, I'm glad you're okay”, Lupin said, his tone much more sweet and gentle, even smiling tentatively at him. Harry never saw him so shaken with raw emotion as he was now; it was new, and really unusual. “I'm sorry they won't permit you to rest a little, you must be exhausted”. Not as much as Lupin looked, though. And the full moon wasn't even remotely near. “Dumbledore wants to speak to you as soon he's finished with the Prime Minister, and he asked me to keep an eye on you in the meantime. It won't be long, he promised”.

Harry nodded, relieved that he wasn't about to be brushed off by the Headmaster, this time, as he made a point on making their next conversation an official statement.

“It isn't like he was alone. He was with me”, Sirius muttered, offended.

“Still, he probably thought a proper responsible adult should look after him”, Lupin replied, without batting an eye. He looked unconcerned as ever, the fit of rage apparently gone, but there was no way he wasn't fuming with anger giving what Harry just saw; Lupin was probably restraining himself on his behalf. “One that wasn't too busy bleeding to death, I mean”.

Sirius, on the other hand, appeared to forgot how to hide emotions, too occupied with his own outrage to bother hiding it in front of Harry.

“What the fuck was I supposed to do? It was you in the first place who agreed to me coming!”

Harry winced, not used to his godfather being so blunt with anyone except, well, Snape, but then they _really_ couldn't stand each other so he was used to it.

“Yeah, and look at you, you almost died and now you're dripping blood everywhere”, Lupin gestured at the wound, looking even more tired than a minute before, like it was possible. “You swore to me you were going after the kids to keep them safe, you swore you won't engage any battle if not necessary... you swore you wouldn't get a inch near Bellatrix if she was present! You didn't do any of those things, even if you knew there was a reason I made you promise, so tell me the part where my explanation was unclear”.

“It was an idiotic promise to begin with, Remus!”, Sirius exclaimed; if Lupin was trying to resolve the whole matter in quiet tones, Sirius appeared determined to be as loud as possible. “And, honestly, you should have known! Did you really expected I wouldn't try to protect him first thing?”

“Oh, splendid, blame it on me then! You could be dead right now but that would be my fault because, hey, I should have known that Sirius Black is a gigantic asshole who can't keep a promise even if his damn life depends on it!”

“This isn't about me! It's about Harry! I could never forgive myself if something happened to him, but you won't understand it, won't you? Some things, Remus, are more important than us, more important than...”

“You? Do you ever listen to yourself? Seems to me that your main concern here has always been to be able to forgive yourself, so hypocritical of you... have you ever thought about Harry, about me, how the hell we'd feel if it was you who died tonight!”, Lupin was livid now, and Harry felt terribly out of place, in witnessing feelings that his ex professor evidently fought to keep private for a long time and even in that moment. “The people who you feel guilty about aren't here any more, Sirius, believe me, I mourn them everyday as much as you do. And dying because you still feel like you own them something, for faults you've not committed... it's just moronic, I wish James was here just to knock some sense into you, he would be so disappointed!”

Lupin didn't look like he was finished, but when he realized he was shouting too, he suddenly closed his mouth, refusing to return Harry's stunned gaze and blushing a little, fixing his eyes on something at their left with a stone expression, like he just remembered where he was. Not that Sirius behaved any different; after that, he looked more hurt than angry, and fell in a stubborn, wounded, silence.

Come to think of it, Harry never saw Sirius arguing with Lupin, even if he had seen Sirius arguing with almost everyone else in the Order on daily basis. When near each other, the two worked well together almost as they were the same person, and it was Lupin that often stopped Sirius before things escalated with Piton and even Molly. Harry assumed it was natural when two had been friends for such a long time like them and never thought once that they could have serious arguments too.

Now that he thought of it, it was pretty weird that never once happened in front of anyone, given the stressful state Sirius and the entire Order were in; and he wasn't going to forget soon all the fights he had with Ron in similar situations.

And, above everything, Harry suddenly understood that Sirius was still struggling with so much more than he let on; even if he wasn't secretive about his feelings like Lupin was, he never told how guilty he still felt to -almost, apparently- anyone. It was a lot to take in.

“Dumbledore agreed to take you to Madame Pomfrey, so you can stay with Harry at Hogwarts for the last days of school”, Lupin said after a while, in a rough voice, when it became clear that Sirius wasn't going to answer him in front of Harry, who was still too confused to grasp a single thing that had happened between them.

“Why suddenly so nice? He still won't let me have him. He'll find some excuse to keep me away as soon as he doesn't have to deal with more pressing matters”, Sirius muttered, his tone suspicious, and Harry couldn't help but notice that he was now leaning closer to him, like daring anyone to separate them; something inside Harry strongly agreed with him.

“I asked, as a favour”, Lupin explained, practical, finding some of his composure again. “Don't make that face. I spared him your constant nagging about it, it must be tiring, even with his patience”.

“ _Moony_ \--”

At that point, out of nowhere, the previous discussion completely forgotten, Sirius hugged Lupin with the same force he hugged Harry minutes ago, crushing him in his arms like he didn't mind if Lupin was about to be suffocated or covered in blood.

“Erm, Sirius... he's turning blue”, Harry pointed out after a while, trying to not smile too much and tugging gently at Sirius's sleeve; his ex-professor's ears, to be honest, were in fact very red and didn't resemble blue at all.

“Consider it as a present for not being dead”, Lupin snorted, cheeks unmistakably pink as he was finally released from the embrace, even if Sirius's hands didn't leave his shoulders. “But I mean it, Sirius, we discussed this, you should pay more attention...”

“Moony, I won't do anything you don't want me to do ever again in my life, even it's keeping insane and fairly impossible promises”.

“I sincerely doubt of that”, Lupin said, raising his eyebrows. “I'm still mad, by the way”, he specified, in a tone too weak to sound convincing.

“Harry, I could go back with you this summer!”, Sirius exclaimed, releasing him, ignoring Lupin's words and turning to Harry again; all of a sudden his face looked very young and excited, just like the pictures in Hagrid's album, and Harry couldn't help but smile, even if he felt a bit sorry for Lupin, that was still glaring -a little helplessly- at Sirius's back. “Not at Petunia's house, of course, she's insufferable, but I can be around and we could spend some time together. I'll restrain myself from kill your uncles with all my strength”.

“Please don't”, Harry said, but his grin was so wide now that his whole face was hurting. “Why can't I go to Grimmauld Place with you though?”

“Ah, I fear I can't let Sirius answer that. Not yet”, a near voice interrupted them, as Albus Dumbledore materialized, seeming unfazed by the course of the events of the night, like he was having a boring conversation about classes. “But if you are ready, Harry, we can go now. I delayed our conversation long enough at this point”.

Sirius sudden stiffness and feeling his hand reaching the base of his neck told Harry that his godfather was pleased about Dumbledore as much as he was, but he didn't protest and let him go in silence after a few moments.

“I understand from the events of this evening that you too should talk with someone, Sirius. That would be Kreacher”, Dumbledore added, his eyes sparkling with warning in Sirius's direction behind the half-moon spectacles. “I advise you to do that with a cool mind. Anyway, I trust you'll make the right decision about it, and I believe that Remus could help with that particular matter. Now, if you'll excuse us”.

There was a little doubt, from his godfather's expression, what he'd do to if he had Keacher in his hands in that moment. Harry couldn't help but feel little sympathy for the house elf, since he not only evidently decided to betray his master, but the consequences could have been much worse just because of that specific incident.

“See you soon, Sirius”, Harry said, to snap Sirius out of his thoughts and reassure him. It seemed to work, in a way, since his brow looked a little less furrowed. “I'm... I'm glad to leave you in good hands”, he added, smiling at Lupin's direction.

That comment appeared to throw Sirius off a bit, but his godfather stayed behind, while he finally followed Dumbledore. Harry wasn't sure of the implications of what he saw in the end, but he could swear Lupin squeezed Sirius's hand in his the instant they were left alone.

 

*

 

“Don't fuss, Moony. I'm fine, I walked here by myself, after all”, Sirius was saying, in a very hushed tone, but still perfectly clear to Harry, who was sleeping in the bed right next from his godfather's. “Tables have turned, uhu? You usually were the one I visited here. Well, most of the times”.

Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey had insisted that he spent the rest of the night in the infirmary, where most of his friends were; but while they somehow managed to fall asleep, he laid down awake for many hours, thinking about what Dumbledore had said about his prophecy and still incapable of believing a single word.

As far as he knew, Sirius was asleep too and Harry didn't want to disturb him, so when Lupin appeared near his godfather's bed in the early hours of the morning, Harry just kept pretending he was asleep.

And right now he was listening to what seemed like a very private conversation, hidden only by the curtains of Sirius' bed. Harry was cursing himself in every way possible from ten minutes now.

“This isn't even remotely funny, stop smiling. You nearly gave me an heart attack”, Lupin whispered, sounding so much tired that Harry felt instant guilt. Everything that happened that night was directly his fault, after all.

“I don't think even I can possibly give an heart attack to a werewolf”.

“You are doing a pretty good job trying, if you ask me”.

“Aw, Moony! You look like shit indeed. C'me here, there's plenty of space. You will recover from your heart attack in no time, promise”. Harry was positive he had started to sweat from embarrassment; this was unquestionably too private. He just hoped Lupin couldn't hear that he was awake by listening to his breath or something.

He heard Sirius' bed shifting and the soft sound of the blankets, as Lupin had clearly accepted his invite, and the sudden stillness of the infirmary a moment later.

“I have to go in just a minute. Kingsley has to report to Fudge later in the morning, to discuss of your... special situation. I thought to go with him, for emotional support, of course. I don't think the Prime Minister likes me very much. He probably won't give a damn about what I have to say on the matter”, Lupin murmured after a while, sounding asleep already.

“I wonder why”.

“It's probably the new tie, throws off most people”.

“Probably. Only a moony could wear that”.

“You should apologize to Kingsley. And I'm still angry, by the way”. Lupin's voice lowered again, so much that was difficult for Harry to hear what he was saying. At that point though, to the hell with privacy. “Sirius... promise me you'll think about what I said before. To run away for a while, before it's too late and the war calls you back. Keep contact with Harry, if you must, but you should be away from all of this... you need time to heal. Not just from the wound, please don't be obtuse about it... being in the Order will destroy you at this rate”.

“I'm not leaving Harry. Nor you”. Sirius sounded so sure that a smile rose to Harry's lips before he could stop it. “Moony, I love you, but for fuck's sake, shut up for once. I'm not going anywhere. I know it'll be difficult, I know I'm in no shape to take care of anyone right now, let alone Harry. But I've been through worse, no offence. So, unless you're just trying to dump me, shut up”.

After what seemed like a long silence, and Harry was starting to finally feel a little relieved and sleepy, Lupin spoke, his tone only faking seriousness this time: “Maybe I am. Trying to dump you. I just can't stand you when you're shedding”.

“You're lucky I can't turn to Padfoot or move right now. I'd crush you. Don't laugh, I would”.

Harry smiled, just a moment before falling asleep. So Sirius was very much in love and together with professor Lupin; prophecy be damned, that was by far the most amazing discovery he could have made that night.

 

*

 

Harry was so adsorbed in watching Sirius that he had no time to register someone was behind him. He barely felt the rustling of clothes, and a one moment later Lupin was sitting beside him, on the stone steps that lead to the walk towards the lake. A big black dog was playing near the water, chasing squirrels and birds and looking like he was having the time of his life.

“He really shouldn't do that. In fact, he's supposed to be in bed, not moving at all”, Harry spoke, having the sudden revelation that it was the right moment to give his blessing, in a way or another. “ _Someone_ should probably remind him”.

His ex-professor laughed, shaking his head. “I couldn't stop him even if I wanted”.

Harry bit his lip, but he never really thought that would work to introduce the subject. He had to be much more explicit; so he cleared his throat and tried to sound like he knew what he was saying: “But you can, can't you? You take care of him, so he only listens to you. Like, very specifically”.

Silence fell between them, and when Harry looked away from Padfoot to at least have a glance at Lupin's face, he found himself blushing violently. It was like someone had lit Lupin's ears on fire; of course, he was also pretending that everything was fine, so he didn't look at Harry or changed his expression even a bit.

But his blatant -almost cute- embarrassment was there, and Harry couldn't unsee any more.

“Yes”, Lupin breathed in the end, after what seemed like an eternity. His voice was firm at that point, and his ears almost returned to a normal colour. “I don't want though. Right now all he has to do is to live his life and be free to do his choices for once. And I won't stop him, I have no right... I'll never be in the way again. He needs that freedom so much that it might kill him to stay here”.

“Well, that's not untrue. But I kinda think he needs you more, and it's probably the only thing you can't talk him out of”, Harry said, with a tiny smile at the clear surprise now depicted on Lupin's face.

When he turned to Sirius again, Lupin imitated him. They both sat quietly for a while, watching that giant ridiculous dog roll over the grass, again and again; until Ron came to search for him and Harry decided to call it a day.

While he was walking away with Ron, he heard Lupin calling Sirius with a -once again faked- annoyed tone, an enthusiastic bark, followed by the unmistakable sound of someone who had just been landed to the ground by an enormous dog.

 

 

 

 

.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the crappy title. Feel free to point out my mistakes, since I don't write in English often I find very hard to correct them myself.  
> Any feedback is appreciated!


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